Free Service-Learning Site Experience (Reflection) Essay Example

On February 27, I visited Lisa Ma from Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly. This experience of visiting the lovely lady has undoubtedly become a memorable meeting of my life. For getting to her apartment, I took an elevator built in the time of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. For me, it was certainly a pleasurable and pretty cool experience. When I arrived at Lisa’s apartment, I was amazingly shocked as it was a tiny and old-fashioned apartment. I must mention that she lives there alone and uses a walker to get around. After I sat down, she asked me to call a guy named Rodney Bull. She told me that Bull was her uncle’s friend and she called him “Papa”. I assumed Rodney to be her guardian. However, it was really shocking for me to find this guy extremely rude and aggressive when I called him. He told me to stay away from Lisa and not to interfere in her life negatively. He also wanted me to write a letter about my school and organization. When he found out that I do not practice Christianity as my religion, he became ruder. He straightforwardly told me that he dislikes me even more because of the different religion I profess. After hanging up, I felt that I was shaking with mixed emotions of anger, fear, and humiliation. When I told Lisa about my condition, she politely tried to lighten up my mood and said “Don’t worry. I will protect you. Everyone has the right to believe in their own faith”.
In our society that increasingly separates the generations; we have no communication with isolated elders. As these elderly have unique, inherent thoughts and values (considered outdated by the new generations), it is not possible for them to process the contemporary American ideology and environment and accept it wholeheartedly. The world is changing with a rapid speed and they have no idea (and energy) to keep up with our pace. They do not understand the ways and manners exhibited by the young people of the modern times. Similarly, it has become impossible for them to understand the new trends and updated values. Bit by bit, they are becoming more and more out of touch with the current society.
Even though Mr Bull’s mean and cruel remarks were awfully excruciating for me, it is pointless to blame him for his demeaning behavior. I can sympathize with him, understanding the fact that he was brought up in a different era with particular parental and societal influences. I can also realize that he was taught certain values that were considered acceptable in his time and may not know any better. Also, it is not an untold secret that aging is a major factor that is responsible for the intensification of personality traits. Impoliteness, offensiveness, a predisposition to disrupt, destitution, and exploitation are some of the observable traits that become more definite with the aging process. Although I had to visit Lisa for my learning-site experience, I got the chance of meeting two elderly people, i.e. Lisa in person and Bull on the phone. For the same reason, I consider it an unforgettable experience as I witnessed two opposite behaviors of the elderly. While Lisa was exceptionally polite and soft-spoken, Mr Bull demonstrated a completely negative, discourteous, and humiliating attitude.
This experience has made me learn various lessons. It is our responsibility as individuals and society to not ignore the social problems; an aging population being one of them. At the present time, over 225,000 Bay Area seniors live alone. In fact, San Francisco has the highest proportion of any city in the country at 31%. In the United States of America, seniors are the fastest growing segment of the population. It is estimated that one in every five people will be over 65 while the number of individuals over 85 will double by 2025.
There are many reasons that can contribute to the problem of population aging. One of the significant reasons seems to be the rapid development of science and technology. Another important reason is the improvement of people’s life, resulting in healthier and longer lives of senior citizens. Considering this factor, it is unfortunate that many people regard elderly people as a burden for the society. A lot of families decide to put their elders in elderly homes for the same reason. The provision of care to seniors can be expensive due to various costs such as food, clothing, health care and medication. A lot of times, families choose to place their elder relatives in “retirement homes” as well wherein the caregivers who watch over them are given remunerations. It is rather an unfortunate thing that such “homes” leave seniors alone and out of sight for granting their so-called relatives the luxury of continuing their daily lives without the burden of senior relatives. In many cases, such retirement facilities have issues like elder abuse.